When You Care About Everything

You know those days when you have so many thoughts—so many cares—rushing through your mind that you don’t even know if you can stop to take a breath?

I’m someone who cares a lot about so many different things. I struggle with perfectionism, so I care about being successful and hitting all the right marks. I struggle with anxiety, so I care about the future and making all the right choices. And I care about becoming the person I want to be—a representation of Christ.

As an empath, I also feel a deep sense of caring toward those around me—toward my friends and those close to me, but also toward this whole entire world.

And I care about you, reader.

Maybe you’ve been in the same place. Having so many cares can be exhausting.

In the middle of it all, it’s easy to lose sight of the finish line.

And it’s easy to lose sight of the One who takes care of it all.

If those thoughts—those cares—are rushing through your head right now, I want you to stop where you are and take a deep breath. Take a deep breath, and remember that the One who created this world is the One who still holds it today.

The weight of the world isn’t your burden to bear

Sometimes we just have to accept—and trust in—the fact that God is holding it all in His hands.

“In Him all things hold together.”

~Colossians 1:17

The weight of the world isn’t your burden to bear. It’s God’s.

And yet, don’t we often allow our cares to weigh us down? Don’t we try to take on the weight of the world when Jesus has already taken that burden to the cross?

Sometimes, we care so much, we pour out our whole heart and soul… and all that we have left is emptiness and weariness.

But giving our cares, our burdens, to God—It can be so freeing. God can give us the fulness and fulfillment that we long for inside. He can give us a sort of peace and restoration that only He can give.

And He can take care of it all.

Keeping your cares in check

Caring about my sport has been something that has made me into a better runner. It’s motivated me to train and compete hard, and to keep going through the tough moments…

And yet, caring has also been the thing to break me.

I care so much, and stress so much, that I’ve had moments when I pushed my body too far beyond its limits. I’ve kept my injuries silent and my tiredness a secret, I’ve had seasons in which I never let myself take a break…

And it’s broken me.

Let me just tell you, rest is important. Caring for yourself is important.

After coming out of a hard season, it’s okay to take a break. It’s healthy and important to take a break.

There’s a quote from Reinhold Niebuhr that I love so much. You’ve probably heard it before.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

~Reinhold Niebuhr

It’s okay to recognize that some of our cares concern situations that we alone don’t have the strength to fix or the position to handle. It’s okay to set those boundaries. Recognizing this displays humility and wisdom.

And keeping your cares in check requires a deep faith in God’s sovereignty.

Caring for the seeds & the soil

If this world is a wide-stretched garden, God has given you a little patch for you to help plant the seeds of faith. To help with the watering and the tending. To care for those seeds and help them grow.

And those seeds begin by growing within your own heart.

You have to soften your heart to allow those seeds to grow within. And you have to keep your heart—the soil—healthy.

Even the soil needs a time to rest after the growing season. And true rest for your soul is something that only God can provide.

Sometimes it’s okay to set a few boundaries or take a break. Sometimes you have to keep your cares in check. But the important thing is remembering to trust in God, and depend on Him for courage and wisdom.

If God cares for the lilies, He’ll care for those seeds of faith. God has given you a position to help tend the seeds, but He’s still the Gardener.

And it’s amazing to see how, with just a little care, a few seeds can blossom into something beautiful.

Caring is a gift

When you care, you take a risk. You expose the deeper desires of your heart and the more vulnerable parts of your soul, and sometimes…

Sometimes the seeds don’t grow, even with your watering.

There have been times when I’ve wished that I didn’t care so much, because it’s heartbreaking when nothing stems from all that I’ve poured out. Sometimes, it sounds so much easier to live a life without a care in the world.

But caring is a gift. It’s a beautiful thing, really, to have a heart so deeply entrenched in what the world was meant to be. To have a heart that longs to see the broken things made beautiful, and a heart that hurts for a hurting world.

Caring can be painful. I know.

But the people who care are the people who change the world.

The people who care are the ones who bring the little drops of heaven to this dry and thirsty earth.

Caring isn’t a gift that you can hold in your hands. It’s one that you can feel in your heart.

And it’s a gift that will touch so many other hearts.

Caring can help the broken hearts keep beating. It can remind those broken hearts of the One who makes them whole.

So keep caring.

I see what’s within your heart. I see you, pouring that heart out into all that you do. And I see your heart, struggling to keep a steady rhythm in all the stresses of life’s race.

I just want you to know that God is holding your heart in His hands.